Nothing to Do
Episode 3, Season 4 of War. Enjoy. <3 Nothing to Do Everyone has those moments, the ones where you wonder exactly how you got yourself in such a bad situation. This is one of those moments. Oakclaw races in front of us, letting out a whoop. Shadowsong hobbles beside him, not looking as amused. Grayleaf's worried green eyes are trained on her as he offers her a shoulder to lean on- a shoulder she completely ignores. Gorsefur pelts beside me. I can hear them behind us. I don't risk a look, for fear that it'll slow me down and I'll be...well, devoured. They squeak and growl and gnash their teeth. I can imagine their beady eyes trained on us. "Oakclaw," I call, gasping for air. "I'm going to kill you." He purrs and I screw my eyes shut for a moment, trying not to pass out or lunge forward and slit Oakclaw's throat. I wonder what Adderscar and Briarclaw are doing. Half a day earlier The siege stopped a week ago and I haven't stopped talking about how I stopped it. I know, I'm a bad cat. But to be fair, where I come from, achievements are things like catching a squirrel with no tail. Stopping a siege that could have killed everyone in WaterClan Main? Little bit of a bigger deal. I don't want to say I was late to the meeting because I was bragging to some attractive toms, but....well. I was late. Let's leave it at that. When I skid to a halt in front of Grayleaf's makeshift medicine den, everyone glares up at me. "Sorry," I meow loftily, sitting and wrapping my tail around myself. "I was-" "We know!" Briarclaw, Oakclaw, and Adderscar all shout. I sniff in annoyance and turn to Gorsefur whose whiskers are twitching in amusement. "Anyways," he meows. "As you all know, last night we were visited by a particularly vengeful member of StarClan who apparently dislikes us enough to bring Shadowsong back from the dead." "Ta-daaa." Shadowsong herself limps out of the medicine den. Cobwebs are wrapped around her stomach and Grayleaf pads beside her, watching her with worried eyes, but she has the same snarky voice, the same bright eyes. We all cheer. "I'm glad you missed me so much," she meows to Gorsefur. He purrs and presses against her. And then we're all rushing forward, laughing and pressing against Shadowsong who mutters, but looks thrilled. After being attacked and very nearly killed by Thundercloud, Shadowsong went into a near comatose state while she healed. Last night, she woke up. "What have I missed?" she sits next to Oakclaw, but not leaning on him or allowing herself to slouch. "I'm sorry you had to live without your second for so long." Oakclaw snorts, but his eyes are bright with joy. Gorsefur looks a little less happy now. "Well, we actually have a-" "Gorsefur," a cold voice greets. Many cats in WaterClan never get to meet Waterstar in person. I would trade away all the few times I have for nothing more than a few rat tails. She glares down imperiously at us now as we all stand and dip our heads. A flock of cats surround her. "Greetings Waterstar," he meows formally. I almost flinch at how distant he sounds acting out the part of the commander. "I wanted to drop by and congratulate all of you for your effort in breaking the siege and fighting off FireClan," she meows. "And as a reward, I'm giving you the day off, rather than assigning you a mission." We blink up at her while the flock of cats around her murmurs excitedly and begins asking questions. With a nod at us, she disappears with them. "A publicity stunt." Adderscar growls. "Well, I guess we have the day off." Gorsefur meows, still looking puzzled. "What do we...do?" I ask after a moment. "Whatever we want I guess." Gorsefur shrugs. "Am I the only one remembering Thundercloud?" Briarclaw asks. "I vote we spend the day trying to figure out where he would have gone and what his next move is." "Much as I hate to agree with my mini-me, I think that's a good idea," Adderscar says. "We should try to figure out his past and then maybe we can come up with leverage against him." Oakclaw waved that suggestion away. "As much as I'd love to kill Thundercloud and avenge Shadowsong and all that, I think we should do something special. How often do we get days off?" "I'm going to take a walk," Stormflight announces suddenly. Stiffly, he away. Briarclaw looks angry, "I'm going to go do research." She turns and stalks off, huffing. Adderscar, after a heavy sigh, follows her. Oakclaw pauses for a moment, then perks up. "So. Fun. Let's go!" There is a web of moss covered training grounds behind the Apprentice Academy. Oakclaw leads us there now, a gleam in his eye. "Alright, so first, I think we should start off with a game of capture the bush," he meows. "Followed by a picnic lunch and swimming followed by dinner and truth or dare." "You're such a girl," Shadowsong sighs. Oakclaw sticks his tongue out at her and surveys us. "Alright, Brookfall and Gorsefur can be a team, and I'll take the cripple and the medicine cat." "Don't think much of yourself, do you?" Gorsefur snorts. Oakclaw smirks and we line up at opposite sides of the clearing. Oakclaw raises his tail, "Go!" Gorsefur and I dart forward. Oakclaw's strong, but Shadowsong's weak, and Grayleaf is obviously focused on making sure she doesn't strain herself. With a nod to me, Gorsefur lunges towards Oakclaw. I dart towards Shadowsong and Grayleaf, dancing around them and heading for the bush. Oakclaw manages to intercept me, but I leap over him as Gorsefur tackles the golden tom. I touch the bush and Oakclaw groans. "Come on!" "That wasn't fun," Shadowsong comments, padding towards us. Her eyes are bright- with pain or spite, I can't tell. "It wasn't fun because we lost." Oakclaw says pointedly. Shadowsong glares at him and he loses a little of his confidence. "Okay, so it felt like practice. But we can still-" "When was the last time any of you had a day off?" I meow suddenly. They all turn to me and I remember most of them are really annoyed at me for being 'full of myself'. "I mean, I haven't had one since I started. Unless I'm injured or whatever. We're probably getting this one because I stopped the siege." "She was doing it as a publicity stunt," Oakclaw muttered. Ears hot, I continued. "My point is, when was the last time we got to do anything that wasn't practice or fighting or killing or healing?" They blink and I feel a sense of pride. I'm on a roll. "Okay, so we're under-privileged little cats." Shadowsong meows. "So what?" "Well, maybe you've forgotten how to have fun," I say. Shadowsong snorts, then flinches in pain. "I suppose we have to go to StarClan and rediscover the meaning of fun so we can share it with all the Clans and stop the war!" That actually doesn't sound like a bad idea, but I'm not saying that. I shrug and Oakclaw brightens. "I have an idea!" "This ought to be good," I sigh. Gorsefur purrs and Oakclaw ignores me. "I know this place out in the Wastelands, it's awesome and we can have fun and stuff." "Sounds totally legit and not at all like the time you convinced us to go fox-hunting with you," Gorsefur meows, whiskers twitching. "How was I supposed to know there would be cubs? I-no, wait." Oakclaw takes a calming breath. "I promise, this place will be great!" "What's the harm?" Gorsefur sighs. "Can we get there and back again in a day?" "Yeah!" Oakclaw looks excited. "It'll be great!" It was not. Stormflight slid down the hill. It wasn't exactly fun, but at least he wasn't careening down it as he had been last time. Upon reaching the bottom, he scented the air. Nothing but the his own scent and the smell of the woods. It's been a week, he reminded himself. He headed into the bracken, still scenting. Smelling nothing, he picked his way towards the now abandoned FireClan post. Make-shift dens were tipped haphazardly and he peeked about. Empty dens and empty nests stared back. A noise drew his attention and he turned, crouching as his claws unsheathed. Rounding a corner, he saw a den- but it wasn't empty as the others had been. Three cats lay on their sides and another sat up. As he padded forward, the sitting cat's head snapped towards him. Dark amber eyes met his and he instinctively backed away. "What are you doing here?" Snowflight growled. "Do you have a death wish?" "I was...I heard a noise," he decided it best not to admit he had been looking for her. She glared at him, the first real spark of emotion he'd ever seen in her. "We have every right to be here- these are wounded cats. They're resting until they're well enough to go back." "Where's you're sister?" he asked. "How come such a high-ranking FireClan cat has to stay with the sick and wounded?" Snowflight looked at her paws. "Lionwing ordered the others to go...she said the wounded could recover on their own. I decided to stay." "Aren't there more?" Stormflight asked. Snowflight lifted her chin. "They all died." Stormflight blinked and took a step forward. "I'm so-" "Sorry?" she snorted, standing, but gently, like she didn't want to disturb the sick cats. "How many of them were in here because of you?" "I-" "And you're part FireClan!" she raged. "Not only part FireClan, you're Firestar's nephew!" He flinched and she purred without mirth. "Has no one ever said that to you? Everyone knows it. Firestar's looking for you and it;s because you're his nephew. You're related to him." she stopped, heaving for breath. Stormflight just stared at her. She had been so clean, so wiped of emotion when he met her...but when she talked about her Clan, her eyes lit up with a fire. Her tail drooped ever so slightly. "Get out of here." she spat. Stormflight left. While we walk, we talk About stupid, meaningless things. No one mentions Badgerstrike or Silverflower or Thundercloud. No one mentions the siege or Shadowsong's still healing wound. We talk about funny cloud shapes and kitlove and Riverkit's exploits. "We're almost there!" Oakclaw meows proudly. He slows as we crest a hill and stops at the top. "Wow," Gorsefur breathes. The dying sun throws golden blood, drenching the gorgeous meadow before us. Wildflowers make the air smell beautiful and trees whisper on either side of the picturesque place. "It's so...romantic." I whisper. "Uhuh. So um, you guys can go hunt or something," Oakclaw meows as he pulls Shadowsong down the hill with him." "You're a jerk!" Gorsefur yowls after him, purring. Oakclaw waves his tail in response. "So..." I avoid looking at Gorsefur, my ears hot. "I'm going to go hunt!" Grayleaf meows awkwardly, hurrying away and leaving us, blessedly and cursedly, alone. The moon was high in the sky when Stormflight returned to the ghostly empty FireClan outpost. His mouth was full of herbs and he cautiously returned to where Snowflight and the sick cats had been. When he arrived, two cats were left. The third had disappeared- to home or to StarClan, Stormflight didn't want to know which. Snowflight was gone and Stormflight set the herbs down, looking around. He followed her scent to a small den where he found her, curled up in a nest. The moonlight filtering in through the den made her fur pulse with a soft silver light. Her nose was buried in her tail and her flank rose and fell with each soft breath. He felt himself drawn closer, closer... Her eyes blinked open and before he knew it, he was blinking up at her as her claws sank into his shoulders. "StarClan, I was bringing you herbs! Ow!" she blinked, then let him up. Stormflight rolled his shoulders, wincing. "I brought you herbs," he said again. "To help the sick cats." "I can get my own herbs," she snapped, but her ears pricked, and after a moment she meowed, "Where are they?" He led her back to the den, aware that she was Thundercloud's protege, that she could kill him or easily knock him out and bring him to his father. And he didn't trust her. And she was the enemy. But he led her to the den and nodded to the herbs on the floor. "I'm not a medicine cat, so I just brought what I could." She looked at the herbs, then at him. Suspicion laced her glare. "Why?" He looked at his paws, unable to answer. "I think you should leave," she whispered. Stormflight suddenly realized how close they were. Her whiskers brushed his cheek and he turned, not saying anything. He padded out of the FireClan outpost, then realized exactly what he had done. He had stolen WaterClan medicine for FireClan enemies. Because of a she-cat. Because I wanted to or because she manipulated me? The meadow was alight with fireflies. Shadowsong looked around, the warm lights setting her eyes ablaze. "How did you find this place?" "I was rather adventurous as an apprentice," he meowed. And it was a great place to bring she-cats. "It's gorgeous," she breathed. She twisted, trying to see it all, and gasped in pain, curling in on herself to stop the pain. Oakclaw was by her side. "Are you doing too much?" he asked nervously. She shook her head, "Don't worry so much you wimp," she teased, though her voice was laced with pain. "Okay..." they sat, Shadowsong curling against him. "Listen, Shadowsong," he started. "I know we've always said we wanted to be...casual friends and stuff, right? Until the war ended." "Mhm," she meowed, her eyes on a firefly. "Well I was thinking-" Oakclaw was interrupted as Brookfall, Gorsefur, and Grayleaf ran into the meadow yowling. Gorsefur and I were padding together, not really going anywhere, just being together. It was lovely. We stopped at a stream. "After you," he meowed pompously. "Why thank you!" I simpered. I made sure to splash him and he laughed, splashing me back. It had begun to develop into an all out war when Grayleaf entered the clearing screeching. "Run!" he shouted. We stared at him and he stopped, sides heaving. "I was exploring...and there was...this old Twoleg nest..and-" The undergrowth began to rustle and beady eyes peeked out at us. Lots of beady eyes. "There must be hundreds," Gorsefur gasps. The rats swarm out of the bushes and we don't need Grayleaf's warning to tell us to run. Which brings us to now. Running for our lives away from a veritable paradise because Oakclaw forgot it was infested with rats. Shadowsong starts to lag behind at one point, so Gorsefur and Oakclaw carry her as she yowls in protest, paws flailing. Finally, the rats drop behind us and we slow, panting. "Let's...never...do...that...again," Grayleaf begs. This strike everyone as very funny and we all laugh, the falling over, aching ribs kind of laugh that lets you know you're with friends. When we arrive back at Main, just in time to see the sun rise, we're still talking, purring, laughing. Adderscar and Briarclaw wait for us by our den. Stormflight approaches from the other direction. Adderscar looks at us, giggling hysterically, and Stormflight looking more broody than usual. "What were you guys up to? Taking a day off or eating catmint?" "The two are not mutually exclusive," Briarclaw smirks. We start to explain, but we're tripping up and laughing and Adderscar sighs. "It doesn't matter. Look, you won't believe what we learned about Thundercloud." And slowly, it sinks away. Gorsefur stands straight, a commander again. Shadowsong winces in pain at her wound and Oakclaw begins to zone out. But I know we each hold onto those memories of the firefly meadow. It was an important lesson: even in war there is a little bit of beauty in the world. Sometimes you just have to walk to find it, And fight off a pack of rats. And then you won't actually get to enjoy it because your friends want to make out. But mostly that first part. Category:Artimas Hunter's Fanfics